Category Archives: The Impossible

Knowing I suffer from chronic migraines, my neighbor dropped off a newspaper article on a recent study titled,

“Study: Thinking positive helps migraine drug work,” by Lauran Neergaard AP, a medical writer.

The article is about a study that proposes that what a patient expects out of a migraine medication will make a huge difference in the results that patient gets from their meds.

Sixty-six migraine patients were recruited for the study, some were given placebos (dummy meds) in an effort to measure the amount of real med related pain relief vs. the amount of relief from patient’s confidence because of their doctor’s positive comments about the meds.

In the article, Ted Kaptchuk, a Harvard professor, suggests that each word the patient is told about their medication is just as important as the actual prescription.

After over 450 headaches were analyzed, researchers concluded how essential it was for doctors to prudently select their words to their patients when subscribing a powerful drug; as the doctor’s message could make or break the medicine’s benefits. Continue reading →